


Snags on the Return

by Kizmet



Series: Endgame related One-Shots [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst and Feels, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Gen, Not Steve Friendly, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-28 21:39:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18764758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizmet/pseuds/Kizmet
Summary: Alternate end for Steve.  Angstiness for Thor and the Guardians.  Spoilery summary in the notesSpoilers for Endgame





	Snags on the Return

**Author's Note:**

> **Spoiler Summary:** So with lots of discussion of time travel filling my head recently here’s the game: Construct a way to get Steve’s ‘long way round’ resolution without having Steve decide “Screw keeping the timeline unperturbed I deserve my happy ending.” Unfriendly to canon!Steve by implication but I’m trying to have a nice, AU-Steve in the story. 
> 
> **Notes:** When it comes to the rules of Time Travel I’m only taking Bruce’s conversation with the Ancient One into account. The discussion between the Avengers basically amounted to “‘Terminator’ is a better movie than ‘Back to the Future’ and thus a better source for information on Time Travel.”
> 
> Having only seen the movie once I don’t remember the exact timing on Steve wielding Mjolnir to figure out an alternate scenario for that battle without Steve present… So for now, I’ll just leave it at: the battle happened without Steve, it wasn’t significantly different. Similarly, I’d need to be able to rewatch to remember the exact sequence of when Nebula-A is discovered by Nebula-B, when Rhodes and Nebula-A take the Power Stone and when Clint and Natasha get the Soul Stone, so I’ll just say that Universe didn’t branch until Nebula-B took Nebula-A’s place and left her own time for 2023-A (Instead of the Branching point being when they start digging into Nebula-A’s memories). 
> 
> From what I remember of the movie sometimes they needed conventional travel to reach their physical destination: Rhodes, Nebula, Clint and Natasha borrowing the Guardians’ ship to get to Morag and Vormir in 2014. ...And sometimes they didn’t: Steve, Tony, Bruce and Scott just appearing in NYC during the Battle of Manhattan. For the purpose of this fic, they always need to travel to their destination but are snapped back to their original location and timeline as well as time when they return via the time travel watches.

“Where’s Natasha?” Bruce exclaimed. Followed a moment later by Scott’s exclamation, “Where’s Captain America?”

“What?” Tony spun to look at the empty spot beside him on the Quantum Tunneling platform in shock.

With a heavy heart, Clint relayed Natasha’s sacrifice on Vormir.

“I got the Tesseract while Steve went to Pym’s lab for the extra particles we needed to make it home,” Tony explained once Clint was done. “We got out of the base without being caught. He gave me a vial we activated the Time Watches and… It should have brought us both back.”

“What if Hank changed the recipe for his particles between 1970 and 2018?” Scott speculated.

Tony shook his head, “If that were the case then neither of us would have made it back.”

“There’s a note taped to the Tesseract case,” Rhodes observed. He reached out and plucked it off, then opened it. After a moment he passed it over to Tony.

 _“Tony,”_ It read in Steve’s loopy, old-fashioned handwriting. _“There was only one vial of Pym Particles in the lab. I didn’t think it was worth discussing who needed to get back more. - Steve.”_

“Once we get Hank back he can make the particles we need to go back and get him,” Scott said. “Dr. Hulk said we promised to bring back the Stones… Leaving an extra Captain America in the past would be practically as bad as taking a Stone out of the past, right? Just as likely to cause a Branch.”

“Right,” Tony said after a moment. “Nothing’s changed. We just have to make this work.”

* * *

After. After the Lost Half were restored. After the battle. After Thanos’ defeat. After Tony Stark’s sacrifice. After the funeral… After.

After everything, slowly, people began picking up the pieces. Hank and Janet Pym set up a lab in one of the less destroyed corners of the Compound and in a few weeks there were enough Pym Particles to return all the Stones to their proper place in the timeline.

Bruce, his left arm still in a sling, handed Thor a messenger bag carrying the Time Stone, the reassembled Scepter, the Reality Stone in it’s container and the Tesseract. “We have a promise to keep,” he said.

Thor looked at Mjolnir and bit his lip. “I do not believe I can return to that point in the timeline and abide by your promise to preserve the timeline. I cannot go back to that moment and allow my mother to perish at the Kursed’s hands.”

“I’m sorry but no one else can move the fricking hammer so it’s not like you have a choice,” Rocket stated bluntly.

“She is my mother,” Thor said.

“I’ll go with you,” Hope volunteered putting a hand on Thor’s shoulder.

“I swear that I will restore the Power Stone and Soul Stone to their proper place in the cosmos before resuming my own place in the timestream,” Gamora promised gravely.

“Do you really have to go?” Quill begged. “It’s not like we can put Thanos and his army back where they came from. There’s nothing we can do about a new branch being created.”

“It is my place,” Gamora replied coolly. “And you would do well to remember that I am not the Gamora you knew.”

“I-” Nebula broke off then her chin came up, “But you are my sister and I would also ask you to stay. I- I am tired of losing, Gamora. I lost you in this timeline. I have lost the only friend I have ever made. In your timeline I have taken from myself the chance to find freedom from Thanos’ shadow- To rediscover that I have a sister. Stay here. For me.”

* * *

“It is not fair,” Thor said softly as he and Hope hid in the ruins on Morag.

Hope shook her head. “It isn’t,” she agreed. They watched as past versions of Rhodes and Nebula retrieved the Orb. As soon as the two of them had disappeared into the Quantum Realm with it, Thor restored the Orb to its place. As they retreated they saw the younger Quill walking up to the doors of the temple, after shaking off Rhodes and Nebula’s attack.

On Vormir, the Guardian simply bowed gravely as he accepted the Soul Stone back into his keeping.

“I don’t want to do this,” Thor said as they prepared to go back another year to return the Reality Stone and Mjolnir.

Once they reached the right point in the timeline Thor used Stormbreaker to complete their journey to Asgard. They arrived in a tunnel beneath the palace where a long ago duel between sorceress had scarred the fabric of reality in a way to obscure the spot in Heimdall’s vision. “My brother oft used this spot to plan his mischief,” Thor relaid with a sad smile. “Occasionally I was even his co-conspirator rather than the victim of his tricks.”

“Heimdall might have been fooled,” Frigga said stepping out of the shadows. “But I didn’t need more than to see your faces to know when mischief was afoot.”

“Mother,” Thor breathed.

“Leave Mjolnir here,” Frigga instructed briskly. “Your younger self never gives a thought to where he leaves it anyway. I will return the Aether to Jane Foster. Under the influence of a light calming draught she has been sleeping since you left and will never know what has happened.”

Hope removed the vial of Aether from her bag and passed it over to the Queen. Frigga accepted it and turned to leave.

“Mother!” Thor exclaimed. “Malekith-”

Frigga held up a hand to silence him, “My son, I am a seer. I know the path I tread.”

“Then why didn’t you change it?” Thor demanded.

“Because it is the path that restores your brother’s heart to us,” Frigga said.

“I lose you,” Thor protested. “I lose father. And just when I finally find my brother again he too is taken from me.”

“You grew up with a Seer for a mother, Thor, you know time cannot be manipulated lightly,” Frigga cautioned. Then she smiled, “But now you know that your brother was not past saving when he led the Chitauri against Earth and _your_ heart is not hardened against him… Remember that.” She wrapped Thor in a gentle hug then stepped back. “Time grows short. I must return the Aether to Jane’s body before the attack begins. Goodbye my son.”

Thor’s face was wet with tears as he watched Frigga walk away, toward her fate. “We should go too,” Hope urged. She linked her arm through Thor’s and he raised Stormbreaker.

A moment later they stood outside the SI warehouse that would become the Avengers Compound in another few years. “My turn,” Hope said. They activated their suits and traveled back to 2012. Once there Hope restored a nondescript care to full size and they drove off toward Manhattan.

“Stopping your brother’s escape is the most time sensitive aspect,” Hope said as navigated through the battle on the way to the alley where Scott, Steve, Tony and Bruce had split up to pursue their separate Stones. “This one should be yours, my presence will only distract Scott,” she added.

Thor nodded. He got out of the car and headed into the alley. Bruce had already left and Tony was the first to spot him, “Thor, buddy, what are you doing here?”

“This is not the time from which the Tesseract should be removed,” Thor said.

“Yeah, well we don’t have enough particles to go anywhere else,” Scott protested and Thor produced two more vials of Pym Particles.

“We’re going to pull it off,” Scott realized, excitement bubbling up in his voice.

Thor nodded, “Friend Tony,” he said. “You should go back to the year of your birth. You know where the Tesseract is, that is when we should take it.”

“Okay, I trust you,” Tony replied as he accepted the vials. To his surprise Thor pulled him into a hug.

“Fare thee well, my friend,” Thor said then turned and walked away quickly.

“What the?” Thor heard Tony mutter in confusion. Thor didn’t dare turn as he found himself crying again.

When Thor was sitting in the car beside Hope again he told her, “To know the future is a terrible thing. I know not how my mother stood it.”

“I want to save him,” Hope agreed. “But not at the cost of the Universe and there’s no one else who could do what he did.”

They found a parking garage where they waited out the battle. As the sky darkened Hope traded her Quantum Realm Suit for a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform and pulled a lab coat on over it. “Bruce said S.H.I.E.L.D. had a research group collecting Chitauri artifacts a few blocks from here,” she said as she took the case containing the Scepter out of the trunk.

In the post-battle chaos it was easy for Hope to quickly flash a badge at the guards stationed around the S.H.I.E.L.D. encampment. She walked into the hastily erected installation with a confident stride. “Get this to Dr. List in department 305,” she told the young agent cataloguing artifacts as she handed over the case containing the Scepter and the Mind Stone held within. She walked back out without a challenge. “Just two left, then we can pick up the Captain and go home,” she said.

They knocked on the door at 177A Bleecker Street. After a moment the Ancient One opened it. “I see you were successful,” she said.

“You gave the Stone to Banner, not knowing that he would be able to return it?” Thor asked in surprise.

“Your present is beyond my vision,” the Ancient One replied. “I trust my successor but even the best of us may fail.” She took the Time Stone, for a moment her gaze turned distant. “You have done your best to avoid convoluting the Time Stream. Even so you have created three new branches with your actions in this matter.”

Thor shook his head, “You miscount, there is only one.”

“The future is a tapestry of endless possibilities,” The Ancient One said. “But even to one such as I, or your mother, who can see what may be only one path, the path which is chosen, becomes reality. It is only when Travelers from outside of the time that is are involved that more than one choice can be made simultaneously.

“In our original timeline Thanos did not become a Traveler, yet now there exists a 2014 from which he has vanished,” The Ancient One enumerated. “In the original timeline, Loki did not escape custody in 2012, then your compatriots came and he did. Your Tony Stark and Steve Rogers went back from that timestream to 1970 in order to acquire the Space Stone. When you returned and prevented Loki’s escape you burned the future of that timeline from existence thus severing it from connection with this timeline. But before you erased the second branch it had already planted a seed, the Traveler Steve Rogers who was left in that 1970 still remains there. And in the place of the second future which you eliminated, a third branch exists where Steve Rogers was never went back further in time than 2012. When you go to 1970 from this timeline to return the Space Stone you will not find your Captain there.

“But couldn’t we go back and stop ourselves from stopping Stark from giving Loki the opportunity to escape?” Hope asked. She licked her lips. “If we waited until Loki escaped and Stark and Rogers went back, then we could retrieve Rogers. Once we’ve returned the Space Stone to 1970, then we could go back to 2012 and give Stark the extra Pym Particles he needs to get the Space Stone without letting Loki escape…”

“Stop while you are only a little behind,” the Ancient One advised. “You will go back, over and over again, each time creating more perturbations until the timeline is so frayed it will lose all integrity. ...Actually, _don't_ go back to 1970 at all.  You won't reach the 1970 the Tesseract was removed from.  To prevent further timelines from being created you need to go back and find the person who will retrieve the Stone from 1970 before they go.  Give them the Stone in your possession and tell them to return it when they take the one that is there.  The Tesseract cannot be returned to the timeline where your Captain is lost.”

As she restored the Time Stone to the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One’s eyes glowed briefly. “You have created a bond between yourselves and your point of origin,” She said. “I know not how far it may be stretched but eventually it will snap back.”

“Then Steve would have returned to the point from which he left,” Thor argued. “He has not.”

The Ancient One paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. “If the bond stretches past the Traveler’s lifespan, the snapback will be irrelevant,” she said. “But if is not the return trip itself may prove fatal. If they do not die in the past nor as they are dragged through time the force of the snapback may throw them forward along their own timeline. Steve Rogers may yet return to your time. Or he may die and his ashes be scattered across the fabric of time.”

“Gamora has to go back,” Hope breathed. “Nebula will be heartbroken.”

* * *

**1970-C**

Steve dropped his hand from his spent time watch once Tony was gone. _‘Probably shouldn’t go too far,’_ he told himself. _‘Once they bring back the Lost Half they can get Pym to make more particles and they’ll come back for me…. Assuming everything works out.’_

Three days later, as his hopes dwindled, a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team burst into the seedy hotel where Steve had been waiting. He flew into action, easily battering his way through their ranks until he found himself face-to-face with Peggy Carter. They both froze. Before either could recover one of the agents used an early taser prototype to knock Steve unconscious. As he fell the time watch on his wrist shattered. He awoke to a light slap and found himself securely bound to a metal chair, the chair was bolted into a concrete floor. Peggy Carter stepped back, joining Howard Stark and Hank Pym as Steve shook off the effects of the taser.

“What did you want with my particles?” Hank Pym snarled, practically foaming at the mouth.

“Where’s your accomplice?” Howard asked. “And where is the Tesseract.”

“Who are you?” Peggy demanded.

“You know who I am,” Steve replied staring into Peggy’s eyes.

“Steve Rogers is dead,” Peggy snapped. “And trust me when I say I will learn who you are that you think you can desecrate his memory like this.”

* * *

**2023-A**

Thor and Hope returned to their own time.

“Where’s Steve?” Sam asked as they stepped off the platform. Bucky stood beside Sam, the same question written across his face. As Thor reached for the words, Bucky’s gaze shifted past him. Then the former Winter Soldier took off running. Throwing himself to his knees, Bucky managed to cushion the fall of the old man who’d appeared by the Compound’s lake. A familiar shield fell to the grass beside them.

Several hours later, after the man had been checked out, both to determine his identity and his health… And consequently had been assigned to a bed in the infirmary… Sam and Bucky were allowed to visit after a stern “He’s a little confused. Don’t tire him trying to get answers,” from Dr. Banner.

“Thor relaid _how_ you’re here,” Sam said awkwardly as Bucky claimed the chair beside the bed. “But what happened?”

The much older Steve Rogers smiled, “I’m so glad to see the two of you. All these years, I always wondered if we did what we set out to, if we managed to bring you back. I never forgot this timeline.”

“It got a little dicey right after we lost you,” Sam admitted. “But in the end we won.”

“Good, that’s good,” Steve said. He glanced over at the shield propped up against the wall. His eyes dimmed slightly. “We beat Thanos too, eventually, but not without cost… He, the Steve Rogers who belonged to that timeline, he and I never got along. Peggy and I got off to a pretty rocky start but in time... I did _try_ to help them find him, the other me, but… It was still a long time. Seeing Peggy and I together never set right with him. I don’t know why everyone thought... I was about to lay the shield with him when… And then I was here.”

“You were never easy to get along with Punk,” Bucky said with a small grin. “‘Bout time you were on the receiving end.”

Steve chuckled. “Yeah, I was a pain in the ass when I was younger. Like to think I outgrew it… Eventually.”

“Loved you anyways,” Bucky muttered giving Sam a glare that dared him to comment.

“I didn’t see Tony,” Steve said after a few moments, his tone a perilous mix between hope and fear. “I’ve seen practically all of you peeking through the window while Dr. Banner was making sure I wasn’t dying right this moment but not him. After I sent him home- He’s back with Pepper and that little girl of his isn’t he? In my world they had just learned they’re having a boy.”

Sam looked away.

Steve’s expression crumpled.

 

**Author's Note:**

>  **Timeline - A:** Original timeline before they started messing with things.  
>  **Timeline - B:** Branches from Timeline-A in 2014 when Thanos-B leaves the timeline and doesn’t come back.  
>  **Timeline - C:** Branches from Timeline-A in 2012 when Loki escapes. Due to Steve and Tony traveling back to from the branched timeline to 1970 it also exists backwards from 2012-B to 1970-B.  
>  **Timeline - D:** Branches from Timeline-A in 2012 when Thor intervenes before Tony and Scott try to get the Tesseract. Loki-D doesn’t escape and Tony-A goes back to 1970 alone, with enough Pym Particles for the return trip.  
>  **Timeline - E:** Branches from Timeline-B in 1970 as soon as Steve-A presence in the past starts changing things.


End file.
